The present disclosure relates to drill bit fabrication.
A wide variety of tools are used downhole in the oil and gas industry, including tools for forming wellbores, tools used in completing wellbores that have been drilled, and tools used in producing hydrocarbons such as oil and gas from the completed wells. Cutting tools, in particular, are frequently used to drill oil and gas wells, geothermal wells and water wells. Cutting tools may include roller cone drill bits, fixed cutter drill bits, reamers, coring bits, and the like. For example, fixed cutter drill bits are often formed with a matrix bit body having cutting elements or inserts disposed at select locations about the exterior of the matrix bit body. During drilling, these cutting elements engage and remove adjacent portions of the subterranean formation.
Composite materials may be used in a matrix bit body of a fixed-cutter bit. Such materials are generally erosion-resistant and exhibit high impact strength. However, such composite materials can be brittle. As a result, stress cracks can occur because of the thermal stresses experienced during manufacturing or the mechanical stresses conveyed during drilling. This is especially true as erosion of the composite materials accelerates.